


Endearment

by CinnaStarks



Series: Inquisitor Izuna [9]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, Languages and Linguistics, Nightmares, Sleeptalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 11:25:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3486470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CinnaStarks/pseuds/CinnaStarks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cullen hears his love repeating an Elven phrase in her sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Endearment

He first hears it when she cannot.

Soft whimpering interrupts a dreamless sleep. 

"Please, ma vhenan." Her face is contorted into a tight grimace and her words sound slurred. Bony fingers clutch the pillow beneath her head, knuckles white with stress. "Put it down, ma vhenan." She slurs her words again and Cullen ventures to clasp her free hand. 

"Izuna, you-"

Her entire body shudders at his touch. “Ma vhenan!” She cries out, almost shoving him off the edge of the bed. Each syllable is it’s own note in the sad song that echoes off the walls of his loft. It is not a mumbled slurring of words he already knows, no. It is Elven. 

Before Cullen can even think of waking her up, grey eyes pop open. “Cullen, I-“ 

Their embrace is worth the silence.

* * *

Izuna’s nightmare leaves his mind until Dorian drags him to the garden for another game of chess. “Finally playing fair, I see.” The mage comments after taking his last knight. “I knew you’d come around someday.”

"Preoccupation with other things isn’t ‘playing fair’." Cullen rolled his eyes. "It’s having responsibilities other than a game of chess."

"And may I ask what those responsibilites are?"

"I’m the Commander of thi-" He starts, but the knowing look in his friend’s glare shuts his mouth like a vice. "Izuna said something in her sleep."

Dorian raises his eyebrows higher than Cullen thought was possble. “Names? Because I know a few men who can take care of that. Not subtly, of course.”

"No, I don’t believe so. It was Elven." He lets his head fall into his hands. "She kept repeating it over and over again during a nightmare. I thought it was nothing but mumbling at first, but-" 

"My heart." 

His hands drop. “What?” 

"If I am assuming correctly, she said ‘ma vhenan’." Dorian’s tone is considerably softer than it once was and dripping with sincerity. "It is an Elven term of endearment that literally means ‘my heart.” His lips curve up into a genuine smile. "She loves you, my friend." 


End file.
